North Otago Senior Competition Winner - Borton Cup

With the creation of the North Otago Cricket Association in 1899, a club competition was started for the affiliated clubs. There were a series of home and away matches with most games played at Takaro Park. It is unknown what the name of the Cup was for the winner of the competition with it being referred to either as the NOCA Cup and the North Otago Cup. Tureka were the very first winners of the competition being undefeated during the 1899-1900 season, however it was the Oamaru Cricket Club that would dominate the early years.

This early golden period of cricket in North Otago unfortunately wasn't to last. As teams started to struggle to find adequate grounds and other factors such as prohibition started to gain a hold, cricket slowly started to disappear, and effectively became defunct in 1909.

With the opening of King George Park in 1915 and the return of servicemen from war service overseas in 1919 there was enough of a push to restart the cricket competition. Waitaki Boys High School were the first winners of the re-launched competition being presented with the old trophy at the end of the season. Waitaki Boys as holders then stored the Cup in the front block at the school but a major fire broke out that saw its loss in 1920. Frank Milner, then rector of the school, presented a new cup to the NOCA as a replacement - the Borton Cup.

The Borton Cup is for the winner of the North Otago Senior competition. It was named after John Borton, who was a successful and prominent farmer in the North Otago region during the mid to late 1800's. He is also believed to have taken part in the first North Otago Rep match against South Canterbury in 1896 and been an important member of the Oamaru Cricket Club.

The Union Cricket Club was formed in 1909 from a 'union' of Tureka and Capulet Cricket Clubs. It first won the Senior Competition in 1920-1921 becoming the first team to win the new Borton Cup. Since then it has been a force in North Otago cricket winning the competition more than 30 times with its traditional rival Oamaru only have won it more, although Oamaru have taken part longer. Recently Union equalled its own record for most championships in a row winning it four times in succession from 2008-2012, and was the top qualifier for the fifth going into the playoffs but lost in the Semi-Final.

The original Borton Cup was then used till 2011 before it was lost. A replica of the Borton Cup is now to be used. (Last updated Sunday, 28 July 2013.)